11,000 private health plan enrollments on Maryland marketplace in first 9 days

More than 57,000 people enrolled in health coverage through MarylandHealthConnection.gov during the first nine days of 2016 open enrollment, more than double the enrollment traffic during the comparable span a year ago.

Of the 57,213 who enrolled from Nov. 1 through Nov. 9, 10,867 were in private qualified health plans, 944 were in stand-alone dental plans and 45,402 were in Medicaid. The large Medicaid total included previous Medicaid enrollees who were in Maryland’s former legacy system and were “redetermined” into a new web-based system.

The 8,421 private insurance enrollees who qualified for financial assistance in the form of Advance Premium Tax Credits included 6,168 existing enrollees who made a change in their plan for next year; 1,365 new enrollees with APTC and 888 APTC renewals who made no change from their current plans.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Marylanders who are not eligible for qualifying health coverage, such as affordable employer-sponsored coverage or a government program such as Medicaid, may apply for APTC to offset the cost of monthly insurance premiums. About 66,000 Maryland households that qualified in 2015 averaged $3,000 in total tax credits — more than $190 million statewide so far this year.

An additional 2,446 private qualified health plan enrollees who did not qualify for tax credits, typically because their incomes are too high or too low, included 867 new enrollees, 1,556 who renewed with a change in coverage and 23 people who renewed without a change from this year.

Dental plan enrollments are also new for 2016 on MarylandHealthConnection.gov. Through Nov. 9, 2,299 enrolled in dental plus a health plan, while 944 enrolled in a stand-alone dental plan.

The first week figures do not include most of roughly 100,000 Marylanders who were covered through Maryland Health Connection in 2015 and are able to “passively renew” into 2016 without any action if they wish to do so and don’t intend any changes from their 2015 plan.

The 45,402 Medicaid enrollments so far this year included 10,999 new enrollees, 17,284 renewals who made a change online and 17,119 who renewed without a change.

Through the first nine days a year ago (from Nov. 15 through Nov. 23, 2014), 20,510 residents had enrolled in Maryland’s state marketplace. That total included 11,945 in private qualified health plans (both new and renewals from the previous year) and 8,565 in Medicaid.

More than 96,000 visited MarylandHealthConnection.gov and more than 65,000 phone calls were received during the first nine days this open enrollment, which began Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 31, 2016. That compares with about 73,000 website visitors and 24,000 phone calls for the comparable span last November.